Chapter 78: Catherine (Patreon)

The repeated, forceful blows against the door continued. The Operator got up to inspect Dan's seal, which looked solid and unlikely to break easily. "Good job, everyone. For a moment, I thought we were fucked. Napoleon, you ok?"

"I need to reload my ammunition."

The little girl crouched down and carefully repacked everything they had taken out, including the containers with Kanryx compounds, into the Operator's backpack. She seemed to be trying hard, possibly thinking about how she could help. She briefly looked at the Kanryx containers with curiosity before putting them back.

Looking around, the area had an elevator and a wide hallway with a single door, the one they'd come out of, and at the far end, a destroyed emergency exit. The exit was covered with brick and concrete rubble. Eron's drill had damaged it as well.

"The good news is that this door is secure and can hold the creatures back. But the bad news." The Operator pointed at the emergency exit. "With that exit blocked, the only way left is to go down the elevator, and it looks like the electricity on Level 13 doesn't reach the elevator."

"Operator, but shouldn't we go up to escape this place?" Lessa said.

The Operator remembered Mordran's words about what was coming to this world, if it hadn't already arrived. She looked at the three of them, waiting for an answer from her about plans only she knew, plans that only worked in her favor.

"Everything around us is sealed, and I don't think we're in any immediate danger. Before we keep traveling together, I think we should get to know each other. I don't know anything about you or your plans, and you don't know anything about me. We don't know much about the girl either. What do you say if we get to know each other?

Dan pulled the rifle strap off his chest, crouched, set it on the floor, and sat down, leaning against the wall. "That's an excellent idea, thank you. I've got no strength left. I'm exhausted, and we've been running from place to place."

Lessa did the same with her rifle and sat down next to Dan. "Yeah, even inside the girl's room, or prison, we couldn't rest because of all the noise outside." Lessa rested her head on Dan's shoulder. "We didn't know if you were alive or what was going to happen to us."

The girl sat in front of Lessa before lying down and resting her head on Lessa's leg.

"She's gotten really attached to you two, huh?" The Operator watched the girl close her eyes and drift off to sleep.

Lessa retrieved a canteen from a slot on her leg, uncapped it, and took a sip of water. "I believe it's time for you to update us on what's happening, your plans, and our next steps." She extended her arm, offering the water to the Operator, who accepted it with a smile.

She drank, handed it back, and sat down across from them, her back against the wall. "Alright. You want to know what's going on?" She set Mordran's head on the floor beside her, the third eye closed. "It starts with the fact that I'm not from here."

Nobody spoke after the Operator finished. Dan rested his head against the wall, gazing at the ceiling. Lessa gently stroked the girl's hair as she slept. Meanwhile, Napoleon was in the Operator's hands, who cleaned him with a rag that Lessa had lent.

"I have no idea whether whatever's coming has already arrived or whether the message reached the winged ones." The Operator set Napoleon on the floor and lifted Mordran's head, holding it in front of her. "All I know is that what Mordran saw was so terrifying and horrible that he cut off this head to protect his race."

"We've seen strange things, like you changing your skin, the creatures, the rings that came out of your hands, and Lord Mordran's head. But you coming from another world and ours ending? Lessa's hand found Dan's, shaking. "Any other day, I'd say you were insane. Now? After what we've seen in here, that's not even the hardest thing to believe."

"Do you two have any family?" the Operator asked.

"One of the reasons we connected at first is that we're both orphans. I've got friends in the city I'm from, but the closest thing I have is Lessa."

Shit, I don't know what to tell them or what to do with them. She set Mordran's head on the floor and lifted Napoleon again to keep cleaning him, while he made a sound, maybe one of happiness, at the cleaning he was getting.

"So after you finish your mission, the most likely thing is that you disappear and go back to where you came from?" Dan asked.

"That's right."

Dan exchanged a look with Lessa, and at the same time, a small, warm, sweet smile spread across both their faces. "Well, sweetheart, the world seems to be ending, so what plans do you have for the few hours we might have left?"

"We haven't had a single date since we became an official couple." Lessa looked at the Operator. "Did you know that, according to the teachings of the winged ones, we can't date or touch each other in any way until we have a union? And we've faithfully followed that belief since we met here." Lessa looked back at Dan. "What do you think about that?"

"Fuck the winged ones." Dan gently held Lessa's face in his hands, meeting her eyes briefly before kissing her. It was their first kiss, yet they shared it with the intensity of a couple who believed it might be the last time they'd ever kiss like that.

After a few seconds, they slowly stopped kissing and looked into each other's eyes. "I love you, you idiot, and yeah, fuck the winged ones."

"Lessa, the Operator." They both slowly turned their faces toward the Operator, both blushing and looking embarrassed, likely because in that moment of passion, they forgot they had a witness watching from the front row.

The Operator smiled, feeling a rare moment of joy as she saw two people in love, something she likely once experienced but had forgotten. She reassured them, saying, "Don't worry about me. If you want, I can go to the far end of this hallway, turn my back, and give you two a moment alone."

"OPERATOR," Lessa shouted.

She couldn't hold it and started laughing hard at the embarrassment on both their faces. She was also happy because the distance she'd had with them had shrunk with that interaction, and she felt a connection she didn't think she'd ever have again.

The girl began to wake, sitting up beside Lessa. She watched the Operator laugh with a puzzled look, while Lessa and Dan smiled and watched the Operator's laughter.

"Dan, if the world's going to end and we've got nothing else to do, let's go with her instead of staying here and waiting for it all to be over," Lessa said.

"I go where you go," Dan said with a smile.

"Once I have the Kanryx, I don't know if I'll disappear from this place. I won't be able to keep protecting you. Wouldn't you rather stay here and spend what you've got left together?"

"You say that like we'd be giving up," Lessa said. "We don't know if the destruction actually happened, or if we can do anything to avoid dying, or even help the people in that room. I know it sounds stupid. We don't even have your abilities."

"I don't think it's stupid," the Operator said. "It's more admirable that you survived without my abilities."

I bet I know what you're thinking. You're thinking of something stupid, something like saving them. And you don't even know if it's remotely possible. Isn't that right?

"Tera," the Operator whispered. "I'm going to save them."

"Did you say something?" Dan asked.

"No, I was just wondering what we're going to call the girl, since we can't keep calling her 'girl.' Any names come to mind?"

The girl made a surprised expression, and a smile formed on her face, confirming once more that she understood every word they said, but she still didn't say a single word.

"You do it, Operator," Dan said. "The winged priestesses are the ones who assign names to people. Even if we're not fans of the winged ones, it's difficult to abandon some traditions that have been handed down to us."

Okay, I named Napoleon after one of the most famous emperors on my planet. I think we can keep the tradition of naming after historical figures.

The girl watched her the whole time, waiting.

At this rate, the world ends before you land on one.

"Give me a second."

She's a child, not a warship. Pick something.

She continued to watch her, small, quiet, and despite everything this place had inflicted on her, the first thing she did once the fighting ended was to crawl around and pick up someone else's belongings from the floor to assist.

Then one came up, and it fit. "Catherine," the Operator said.

The girl's eyes came up.

"On my planet, a woman with that name appeared in a foreign country where she was not welcomed. People expected her to stay hidden and accept her lowly position. However, she defied expectations by taking the throne unexpectedly, ruling one of the world's most powerful empires.

"I don't know what they did to you in here, or what you're capable of. But you're not in the room anymore, kid. So, Catherine. What do you think?"

Catherine smiled and nodded. She had a name now, and it was hers.